HOW WAR 


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THE LIBRARY OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF 
NORTH CAROLINA 


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THE COLLECTION OF 
NORTH CAROLINIANA 


Cp970.9 
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HOW WAR CAME TO AMERICA AND 
WHAT IT MEANS TO US 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED AT A PATRIOTIC MEETING OF 
SOLDIERS AND CITIZENS, HELD AT RALEIGH, 
N. C., ON AUGUST 14, 1917 


BY 


JAMES H. POU 


OF 


RALEIGH, WAKE COUNTY, N. C. 


Printed in the Congressional Record, August 23, 1917) 


WASHINGTON 


1917 
10857—17857 


ptoEe? 


ADDRESS 


BY 


JiAciNl tHeSpookb cpt O 


Mr. OVERMAN. Mr. President, I ask to have printed in the 
Recokp a copy of an address delivered by Hon. James H. Pou, 
August 14, 1917, at a patriotic meeting of citizens of Raleigh, 
N. C., under the auspices of the Red Cross. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so 
ordered. 

The matter referred to is as follows: 

“A great war applies the acid test to the people »f the coun- 
tries involved. Like an X-ray picture, war makes manifest 
things which during peace were not disclosed, and whose exist- 
ence was often not suspected. Many plain citizens during peace 
follow the even tenor of their ways and are regarded as com- 
monplace ordinary men. 

“War comes, and unconsciously to themselves and unexpect- 
-edly to the public, these men assume new habits and a totally 
different attitude. They cease to be plain men and they become 
heroes. They promptly answer the call to duty, and in answer- 
ing they achieve that nobility of soul which comes only from 
the performance of a patriotic and unselfish duty. And some 
attain immortality. 

“The Rhode Island Quaker blacksmith toiled at his forge 
for years before his neighbors suspected what the Revolution 
would make of Nathanael Greene. : 

* Joseph Warren was a physician, well known in his own 
town, but searcely heard of elsewhere. The Revolution came. 
He did a man’s part. He did not believe the Americans had 
munitions sufficient to hold Bunker Hill. He advised against 
the attempt. He was overruled, and the effort to fortify and 
hold the heights was determined upon. He was offered chief 
command. He declined, but volunteered as a private, and was 
killed in the battle fighting as a private, with a commission as 
general in his pocket. At a stride he left the ranks »n Bunker 
Hill for a place in the temple of immortality. 

“Probably more places are named for these two men—Greene 
and Warren—than for any other men of the Revolution, Wash- 
ington alone excepted. 

“War is the great solvent. It separates the pure from the 
base metal and presents men as they are and not as they seem. 

“War gives, along with its trials, hardships, and sacrifices, 
opportunities never available in peace. It gives the man who 
may have made a bad, unfortunate, or ineffective start in life a 


-chance to begin again under different conditions. He has a 


second chance with the promise if he makes good in the second 
effort his former failure shall be forgotten, and the glory of 
shis latter effort shall become a patent of nobility. 

10857—17857 3 


4 


“When our Civil War began, two of the least promising of 
men were Grant and Sherman. Both men were West Point 
graduates. Both had served in the Regulary Army and had 
left it. Both went into other business and had not succeeded. 
Grant had farmed; then worked as a tanner; clerked in.a store ;. 
then hauled wood. Bad habits chained him, and bad luck 
seemed his twin brother. He volunteered, and went to Spring- 
field to offer his services. His record and his appearance were. 
against him. His attitude was that of the conscious failure. 
He was given slight encouragement and was put to work copy-- 
ing muster rolls in the basement of the capitol. Civilian offi-. 
cers who could not drill their companies or regiments learned 
that a West Point graduate was working in the basement. They 
asked him to help in getting their troops in shape. His work 
immediately put new life and an altogether different appearance. 
on these companies. His own worth was demonstrated and he: 
was quickly given a regiment. Hight years later he was inau- 
gurated President of the United States, the youngest man to at- 
tain that honor. 

“Sherman, after leaving the Army, tried banking in Califor- 
nia and commission business in New York without success. 
Then he opened a law office in the Middle West. No clients. 
Like inany other competent lawyers, despite talents, character, 
and industry, he did not succeed. His office dried up and he- 
blew away. The war found him teaching school in Louisiana, 
the very picture and image of a man without any bad habits. 
who had failed to make good, ‘He had gone up against it and 
bounced back.’ 

“He was so hard up that it was assumed that he would be 
glad to take any job offered to him, and without asking him 
where he stood in the contest a commission as an officer of 
Louisiana State troops was made out and tendered him. He- 
declined, frankly stated his position, went North, joined the 
Army, rose rapidly, stated that 200,000 men were necessary to- 
break the lines of the Confederacy in the West, was believed to. 
be crazy, and was so regarded for a while. 

“And when Grant became President he delivered the com-. 
mand of the Army to Gen. Sherman. Except for the war these: 
two men would probably have been written down as complete- 
failures; sore disappointments to friends and relatives. 

“This war will develop many Greenes, Warrens, Grants, and 
Shermans, and countless thousands of less distinguished heroes. 

“The men who shall render service in this war will, during 
the balance of their lives, rule the Nation, both in politics and 
in business. And better still, many a man who heretofore has. 
not been able to control himself will hereafter become master- 
of himself, his habits, and his circumstances. Many a man 
now regarded by himself and his friends as a failure, with 
nothing to hope for in the future, will come back from the war- 
with head erect, eye steady, grip firm, and an air of confidence- 
in himself never seen before. We will see the unsuccessful 
boy transformed into a seasoned, disciplined, efficient man. 

“Horrible as it is this war has some compensation for those- 
who shall do their part. And many men will find their success 
in life began the day they took their places in the ranks of the. 
American Army. I never knew a man who went to the Civil 
War on either side and who returned with an honorable dis- 

10857—17857 


5) 


charge or worthy record express regret that he went to the 
Ariny. I have heard many who did not go express the keenest 
regret that they did not. = 

“The acid test of war likewise shows what is mean, un- 
patriotic, and vicious in our natures. It discloses the yellow 
in us, if there be any. It gives the bad citizen an opportunity 
16> show how unpatriotic he can be. It enables the citizen of 
low, selfish, and grovelling ideas an opportunity to register his 
lune and call his true number. It enables every man to grade 
and register his peculiar and personal standard of citizenship. 
And these strange and unfortunate creatures, who by nature are 
against all things and particularly against their own Govern- _ 
ment, are given opportunity to show how closely thei: ideals of 
citizenship approximate what the law calls treason. 

“You hear these men whispering words false in fact and 
“upproaching treason in purpose and intent. They are saying 
that the war is wrong and that the draft is unconstitutional. 
They say that we can not send our armies beyond the bounds of 
this country without their consent. They say that we should 
wait until the Germans land on American soil, then declare 
war. France, Belgium, Russia, and Serbia all waited until 
Germany attacked them. You see the result—destruction of 
life and property unheard of heretofore; old men, priests, 
children murdered—women outraged by countless thousands, 
shaming the dark ages. This is what it means to wait for the 
Germans to invade. The men who advise us to wait for the 
Germans to invade America mean that after American cities 
hhave been burned, after American farms have been turned into 
«deserts, after American citizens not engaged in war have been 
butchered or enslaved, and after American women have been 
ravished, then they will be men enough to fight. But they are 
mistaken. They will not fight even then. They will grovel at 
the feet of the enemy, or they will hide in the swamps. 

“We will fight to prevent these things, and we will fight 
new, that a German Army may never invade America. The 
man who will not fight now will never fight. Count on that 
and watch the man. 

“These men say that this is a rich man’s war, when never 
before in any war has America placed so nearly the entire 
cost of the war on the rich. They say it is a bondholders’ war, 
when bonds were sold for par, at a low rate of interest, and 
are held by the largest number of people who ever participated 
in a bond issue. 

“They say they can not approve of the draft and of uni- 
versal military service, when they know this to be the only way 
to preserve equality of service. The sons of the poor and the 
unknown have the same rights and the same chances as the 
sons of the rich and the influential. The man who would keep 
his son out of the Army is the very man who would send his 
neighbor’s son to the front. Universal service makes impossibie 
the bounty soldier, the hired substitute, the 20-negro law 
exempt. and the other subterfuges behind which many cowards 
sought shelter in the Civil War, while better men went to the 
front. : 

“They say that in establishing a food control the Govern- 
ment—claiming to he against trusts—has established the great- 
est of all trusts. True; but Uncle Sam is the trustee, and all 

10857—17S857 


6 


his children are beneficiaries. It is a trust to protect the pub- 
lic, not a trust to oppress. Uncle Sam is determined that none 
of his children shall suffer for the necessities of life, while 
those necessities remain abundant in the land. Speculation 
shall not corner the market and fix high prices for the millions. 
The Government has decreed that the man with money shall not 
forestall the market, take over the food supply, and dictate 
prices to the man who buys next week’s supplies with this 
week’s wages. 

“ Some carping critics object to the food-production and con- 
servation campaign. They say that the Government has no 
business trying to control the industries and habits of the 
people. All the Government is asking of us are the things we 
ought to do, which are to our advantage to do, without being 
asked. We are asked to make and save, as near as possible, 
what we eat, because of the world-wide scarcity of foodstuffs, 
and because of the difficulty of transporting food from one sec- 
tion where abundant to another where scarce. We have 
raised great crops of food—vegetables, fruits, and so forth, 
We are urging people to save these products against the time 
of certain need next winter. Instead of helping in this work 
these critics—who in the past have always advocated growing 
food supplies at home—are doing all they can to encourage 
waste. They write and talk against our movement, and advise 
that all food-producing and conservation work be stopped. 
They say that the people have all they can stand; that this is 
a bondholders’ war; that the money powers are responsible, and 
so forth. I have seen the letter. 

“They complain of railroad service, and forget that service 
has been reduced because the Government has taken over roll- 
ing stock and locomotives for use in France, and because vast 
amounts of rolling stock is being used and will be used for 
months yet in moving troops and their supplies. 

“In all great wars of the past troops have been carried in 
freight or stock cars, and often on flat cars. Our Government 
is endeavoring to carry every soldier in a passenger car. To 
do this it must restrict civilian passenger service. We who do 
not go to war must consent to be crowded if we travel, and if 
sometime we fail to get a seat immediately, we should remem- 
ber that our slight inconvenience is the result of an effort to 
make our soldiers more comfortable. We should be ashamed to 
complain. Our ladies should be willing to put their baggage 
on the floor when necessary to give other women seats beside 
them, Seats in a passenger car should not be piled with grips 
and bags, while a woman with a baby in her arms looks in vain 
for a seat until some man gives her his. Put the bags, grips, 
and so forth, on the floor, and let the woman have a seat, even 
though she be a stranger and be not fashionably dressed. 

“These critics complain of the censorship, and say that free 
speech is denied. They prate of the inviolable rights of the 
citizen and assert the time-honored rights of life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness, and so forth. But they fail to draw 
the distinction between freedom of speech and advising the com- 
mission of crime. The first is iawful, the latter unlawful, now 
and always. Always unlawful, it becomes dangerous and even 
treasonable during war. 

10857—17857 


ty 


“These people may abuse the President, criticize Congress, 
berate our Army and Navy much as they please. They show 
a low citizenship, an absence of patriotism, and exceeding great 
folly. But they commit no crime. But the moment they advise 
a man to disobey any rule, law, or lawful order of the Govern- 
ment, they commit a crime, and may be punished for felony or 
possibly for treason. 

“Thus, these people may abuse President Wilson to their 
heart’s content, and they will be visited with nothing worse 
than public contempt. But the moment they advise a drafted 
man not to appear, or an enlisted man to desert, they become 
guilty of felony. 

“There are some who are very near to, if in fact they have 
not already, crossed the line which separates folly from crimi- 
nality. 

“These critics tell us that this is not our war; that we have 
no business in it; that we are fighting other peoples’ battles. 
True, we are fighting with a large part of the civilized world, 
but we are not fighting for them any more than they are fight- 
ing for us. The mad dog of the world is after them as he is 
after us. We and they are fighting for life. If they slay the 
dog we are blessed. If they slay him we are fortunate we are 
fighting together, but each one fights for himself, and any assist- 
ance he may render to another is secondary and consequential. 
Civilization is in danger and all her children are fighting. 

“Three years ago when Germany went to war she had no 
immediate hostile design on the United States. She planned 
and arranged for the war on the hypothesis that England would 
not fight, and consequently Japan would not; that Italy would 
remain neutral or join with her; and that Turkey would act 
as Germany should order. With this plan outlined, Germany 
thought she could immediately isolate Russia by closing the 
outlet from the Baltic to the North Sea, while Turkey kept the 
Dardanelles. Germany knew her fleet was stronger than that 
of France, and she expected to destroy the French fieet. Her 
plan contemplated that Germany should be supreme at sea. 
She planned to use sea traffic as an asset and to deprive her 
greatest enemy of all access to the sea and to close all French 
ports with a powerful and effective blockade, while easy access 
to Germany north of Great Britain and to Italy and Turkey 
through the Mediterranean should be maintained by German, 
Austrian, and, if necessary, the Italian fleets. She had her 
fleets planted in every sea and scout ships and cruisers near 
many harbors ready to seize all French and Russian ships and 
to blockade their ports. The army and fleet at Kio Chau were 
to guard Vladivostock and blockade Russia’s Pacific coast. ‘The 
Pacific fleet was to scour that great ocean and leave no enemy 
ship afloat. So convinced was she of the success of her plzns 
that she left on purpose, in all the great harbors of the world 
many of her finest ships. In English, American, Chinese, Portu- 
guese harbors and in the ports of many other nations the finest 
and largest of Germany’s merchant marine were purposely left 
when war was declared. Germany determined on war at the 
Potsdam conference early in July, 1914, and she couid have 
drawn her ships home, but she wished them where they were, 
so they could be sent anywhere and converted into warships. 
They would first have swept the seas of French and Russian 

10857—17857 


8 


ships and then they would have returned to peaceful commerce, 
carrying German trade to all the rest of the world, while Ger- 
“many crushed France and Russia at her leisure. Germany 
planned to use the seas as an asset and as a weapon to defeat 
her enemies. She would have succeeded and she would have 
won the war before Christmas, 1914, but for the colossal crime 
and folly of the attack on Belgium. 

“Germany planned to fight three wars in quick succession, 
using the gains in each to help win the next. 

“She intended to crush France and Russia in 1914, then 
attack England, and if she would not trade with Japan, to 
attack Japan also, then to attack us. The Belgium crime com- 
bined all these wars into the struggle now being fought. Ger- 
many is now fighting for world mastery, and the fate of the 
whole world is at stake. 

“Had Germany respected Belgium’s neutrality and her own 
pledged word, attacked Russia in force while fighting France 
defensively, neither England nor Japan would have entered the 
war. The English harbors would have been open, likewise those 
of Belgium. ‘Transportation would have gone on almost unim- 
peded in the Atlantic; absolutely so in the Pacific. The war 
would have ended on schedule time with an astounding victory 
for Germany. She would have stood across the world a very 
colossus, and no nation would have dared challenge or deny 
her supremacy. The werld escaped this by the narrowest of 
margins. In blind, criminal folly and lust of blood Germany 
attacked Belgium. England grandly and heroically answered 
the challenge, and though unprepared, entered the war. Two 
weeks later Japan came in and Italy announced that she would 
never fight England or France. Germany, to her amazement, 
found that her plans had miscarried and that she could not use 
her fleets or ships purposely placed in every ocean and port. 
The seas were being used against her, not for her. German 
ships, not enemy ships, were driven from the ocean. She was 
’ not the hunter but the hunted. By Christmas, 1914, German’ 
sea commerce had disappeared and all German warships not in 
hiding in German ports had been captured or sunk. The great 
German ships in neutral harbors were afraid to leave. Instead 
of blockading and strangling her enemies, Germany was being 
blockaded and strangled. What did she do? 

“Wor six months Germany had fought on the seas according 
to the laws of nations and the rules of civilized warfare, and 
she had lost the seas. On February 4, 1915, she announced 
the she had up to that time conformed on the seas to the rules 
of civilized warfare but that in the future it would declare 
a paper blockade around the British Isles and, by use of her 
submarines, sink vessels going to England, and that her sub- 
marines might by mistake sink neutral vessels. President Wil- 
son answered with his note of February 10, 1915, signed by 
Bryan, in which due notice was given that the Government 
would hold the German Government to a strict accountability 
if any American life were lost because of the unlawful acts of 
the German Navy. On February 16, 1915, Germany replied 
and in her note used these pregnant words: 


“Up to now Germany has scrupulously observed the existing provi- 
sions of international law relative to maritime war. 


10857—17857 


9 


“But she claimed that because England had been able to 
establish an actual and effective, (and therefore legal) blockade 
of all German ports, she, Germany, would declare a paper 
blockade around the British Islands and sink any vessel at- 
tempting to reach English shores. An effective blockade of an 
enemy port is always Jegal. But an ineffective blockade is 
never legal, because it allows some vessels to pass while others 
must not. It becomes not a blockade, stopping all traffic, and 
thereby becoming a recognized and efficient instrument of war, 
but an attempted regulation by one power of the right of all 
other powers, even though friendly and neutral, to use the free 
high seas for commerce. A paper blockade is a claim of the 
ownership of the seas by one power. and if other powers acqui- 
esce the claiming power acquires title. 

“Germany asserted this claim in February, 1915, after she 
had lost all hope of sea dominion. We denied her claim and 
asserted our rights. On May 1, 1915, Count Bernstorff inserted 
in New York papers advertisements officially warning Ameri- 
cans not to travel on certain ships—an unprecedented act—and 
on May 7 the Lusitania was torpedoed, and over a hundred 
American citizens—many women and children—lost their lives. 
Germany had made war on us, and when she realized that war 
was imminent and that war with us was not at that time to 
her advantage she began a frantic effort to prevent, or at least 
postpone, the war she had begun. On May 9, 1915, she began 
to give President Wilson assurances that American lives would 
be safeguarded, all property damage paid for, and all disputed 
eases arbitrated. Germany’s notes for 18 months after the 
sinking of the Lusitania demonstrate that she did not want 
war with us then. The German communications of May 9 and 
September 1, 1915, show this attitude clearly. 

“But the seas remained closed to Germany, and she gained 
many victories on land. She broke the Russian lines in May. 
1915, and later captured almost all of Poland, Courland, and 
Livonia. Still later she overran Serbia, Montenegro, and 
Albania. Bulgaria came to Germany’s aid, and the line to 
Constantinople was opened. The allies, though now aided by 
Italy, Portugal, and later by Roumania, could gain no great 
victory. All the combatants were getting tired. In the fall of 
1916, in the high tide of success, Gen. Brousiloff was stopped 
by orders from Petrograd, and it became apparent that terms 
had been arranged or were being arranged for a separate peace 
between Russia and Germany. All fighting between these 
countries had ceased since September, except a little deceptive 
and fraudulent aid rendered by Russia to Roumania. The 
offensive on the Somme in the summer and fall of 1916 had 
been a keen disappointment to the allies. With Belgium and 
the Balkans conquered, Russia quieted, Japan compensated, 
Germany thought she had only England, France, and Italy to 
fight. She believed the submarines, if given free hand, could 
beat England, and she believed her and the Austrian armies 
could then quickly destroy France and Italy. She concluded 
that if she withdrew all her promises to us, made and oft re- 
peated since the Lusitania, we might not fight. If we did not 
fight then, she knew we would never fight. We would be pub- 
licly acknowledging the supremacy of Germany. She was en- 

10857—17857 / 


10 


couraged in this belief by the campaign watchwords magnify- 
ing peace and the slogan “ He. kept us out of war.” On the 
other hand she believed that if she entered the war she would 
win anyway, and she could collect out of us a huge indemnity. 
and she would be mistress of the world. 

“ Holding these views, Germany, without giving any notice, 
on the afternoon of January 31, 1917, curtly withdrew every 
promise she had heretofore made and with phrases of insult 
presented our minister at Berlin a note which contained a decla- 
ration of savage warfare against all mankind. In the note wag 
this paragraph: 

“Under these circumstances Germany will meet the illegal measures 
of her enemies by forcibly preventing after February 1, 1917, in a zone 
around Great Britain, France, Italy, and in the Hastern Mediterranean 
all navigation, that of neutrals included, from and to England and from 
and to France, ete. All ships met within that zone will be sunk. 

“ Before sending this note, and while pretending to be friendly 
with us, Germany proposed to Mexico to give her Texas and 
several other American States if she, Mexico, would join Ger- 
many in war upon the United States, and further requested 
Mexico to arrange with Japan to join Mexico and Germany in 
war upon us. 

“Thus war came to America. Germany believed it was to 
her interest to avoid war in the spring of 1915, and she believed 
it was to her interest to force war in 1917. She did both. War 
in 1915 would have brought certain and quick defeat, and she 
made promises sufficient to preserve peace. In 1917 she helieved 
war would not be to her disadvantage and she forced war with 
brutal frankness. 

“President Wilson did not wish war. He ran great risk in 
preserving peace. The country ran grave risk in relying on 
German promises and in maintaining a precarious peace for 
two years. But the revolution in Russia may justify our 
cause. If we had entered the war in May, 1915, Germany 
would have been defeated but Russian tyranny would have been 
given a longer lease on life. Probably the greatest good has 
been accomplished and that all the world, including Russia and 
Germany, will hereafter be free. 

“The war is our war, and it is not a Democratic or partisan 
war—Republicans and Progressives are just as earnest in their 
support of the war as Democrats. Roosevelt, Taft, and Hughes 
are as valiant and patriotic as Wilson and Larker, and these 
are all the men now living but one who have been nominated 
for the presidency by any party during this generation. It is 
a national war and the existence as well as the honor of the 
Nation is at issue. 

“That our Army and our Navy will do their duty I do not for 
a moment doubt, and we who do not now go to the front have 
duties which we must perform with the same steadfastness, cour- 
age, and sacrifice that the soldier shows in battle. 

“We must pay taxes willingly, promptly. We must pro- 
duce, conserve, economize, and forego temporarily many rights 
we have heretofore exercised. I'reedom of speech must be pre- 
served. But to preserve freedom, it may be necessary to close 
the mouths and stop the presses of those who preach sedition and 
incite to treason. We may have to ask our railroad friends to 
forego temporarily the eight-hour law, but with the pledge to 

10857—17857 


11 


restore it when the war ends. The Army must be moved and 
supplied at all hazards. Our railroad employees are patriots 
and they will make this sacrifice for the Nation’s safety. 

“So much for the general subject. Now, for home. Wake 
County has done everything she has been called upon to do. 
She has bought bonds. Her sons have enlisted or registered. 
She has given the war Y. M. C. A. and the Red Cross more than 
was asked. In every respect Wake has shown patriotic zeal. 

“The State council of defense has appointed a committee of 
six men—Col. Charles E. Johnson, Messrs. B. S. Jerman, C. B. 
Barbee, Daniel Allen, J. Cooper Young, and the speaker—and 
has designated it ‘The Soldiers’ Business Aid Committee for 
Wake County.’ A subcommittee, of which Col. James H. Young 
is chairman, will specially advise about colored soldiers. 

“Tts duties are to aid soldiers in their business affairs, by 
making loans on security which would not be accepted in banks, 
and allowing time after the end of service to repay. It is in 
no sense a charity. A soldier can avail himself of the commit- 
tee’s aid without loss of dignity or self-respect. He is required 
to give note, with such security as may be available; and he is 
expected to repay the loan. If he wishes the committee to pay 
interest on a mortgage and prevent foreclosure he will give 
security if he can. If he can not do better, he will be asked 
to give the committee a second mortgage on the land, to secure 
the interest the committee may pay on the first mortgage. If 
he wishes the committee to pay premiums on life insurance, he 
will give a note secured by a proper transfer of the policies so 
the committee can be safe for what it may advance. Other life 
arrangements will be made where business affairs require it. 
Other means of assistance will be offered as the different demand 
for them may arise: Help to dependents, while the soldier is 
away, will be made in deserving cases. If a soldier be disabled 
by wounds or disease he will be helped in obtaining special 
training, so he may enter any trade or profession open to one in 
his condition. In any legal proceedings in which a soldier may 
be interested, like partition of land, the committee will look 
after the soldier’s interest if requested and without expense. 

“ After the war the committee will assist soldiers in getting 
jobs, and to that end will keep in touch with large employers 
and will ask them to give the soldier preference. 

“Wake County lawyers will gladly prepare any legal papers, 
will, deeds, etc., for any soldier regardless of color on request. 

“All soldiers are requested to register before the county elec- 
tion officers, so they may vote next year, even if they be out of 
the State. The absent voters law (Ch. 23, p. 78, Public Laws of 
1917) provides for voting by men who may be away from home 
on election day provided the voter shall have personally regis- 
tered before leaving. If he does not register before he ieaves 
he can not vote. The law provides for absent voting but not 
for absent registration. If you wish to preserve your vote 
see the chairman of your county board of elections and see that 
you are properly registered. If you be registered, you can send 
your vote by mail. The chairman of the board of elections can 
register you now or at any time before you leave. Do not fail to 
register before you leave. Some man may be running for office 
next year on a yellow-dog platform, pro-German, pacifist, peace 

10857—17857 


12 


ait any price, and you will wish to vote against him. You will 
‘shoot against enemies in front and vote against enemies at 
home. Election officers will make no charge for registering, 
und I am sure will aid every soldier regardless of race in pre- 
‘serving his franchise. If the soldier can substantially comply 
with constitutional amendment he will be registered even if his 
‘spelling, punctuation, and pronunciation be a little substandard. 
If a man fight for his country, technicalities and rigid scrutiny 
of his educational quaiifications must not be used to deprive 
him of his rights to vote. This principle must be upheld whether 
the applicant for registration be black or white. 

“The committee will keep a book, and the book will contain 
a complete history of its work. Every contributor will be listed 
with the amount contributed. Every soldier assisted will be 
listed ; and if he repays or shall fail to repay loan that fact will 
be entered. After the committee shall have completed its work, 
this book will be delivered to the State council of defense for 
examination and audit. All moneys on hand, including all loans 
repaid, will be returned pro rata to the contributors, and the 
book preserved in the State library as part of the State’s perma- 
nent records. This book will often be referred to during the 
next hundred years by persons who may wish to prove that they 
or their ancestors render some valuable and noncompulsory 
service in this great war. 

“The work of this committee will largely be confidential, and 
nc soldier need fear that his affairs will be made public. 

“We have granted assistance in one case so far. The soldier 
‘has given his consent that I may mention it to show the work 
and the method. He was making $25 per week at his trade and 
was getting along comfortably with a wife and one child. He 
belonged to the Coast Artillery. Soon after he was called to 
the colors, his wife was taken sick and had to go to the hospital 
for an operation. He arranged with a physician to wait for 
his pay, arranged for his child’s board but told us that he did 
not see how he could meet the hospital charges out of his pay, 
$35 per month, as a soldier. We examined his case, conferred 
with the officers of his company, found him honorable and 
worthy. We promptly and gladly granted him the assistance he 
asked, will take care of the hospital bills, and allow him reason- 
able time after his service shall have ended to repay what we 
shall have advanced. He has given note to that effect. This is 
not charity. It is a business transaction, just like he would 
make at a bank, except that we take security which a bank could 
not lawfully take. I feel confident that this loan will be repaid, 
principal and interest. We are furnishing this patriotic soldier 
with credit to meet an unexpected and unavoidable expense. 

“Now, two instances where we did not help. An insurance 
agent came with a note given him for the first premium on a 
policy he had just sold to a soldier. He wanted us to pay the 
note or buy it. In view of the intention of the United States 
to provide new insurance for all soldiers, we think we should 
restrict our efforts to taking care of premiums on policies 
already in existence. We told the agent that he had best hold 
his note. 

“Another suggested that we take care of a mortgage on a 
-drafted man’s land and muies. But upon inquiry we found that 

10857—17857 


13 


the seller of the land was the father of the drafted man, that 
almost nothing had been paid on the land or mules. We thought 
this man might never go to the Army, and if he did, his father 
should hold the land for him. And if he goes to the Army, he 
had best sell his mules, as his crop is finished. These three 
cases are given as an idea of what this committee will do and 
what 1t will not do. 

“Qur idea is to help those who can neither help themselves 
and who have no kin or friends who will keep them. 

“Tf a soldier can make his own arrangements, or if he has 
family or friends who will attend to such matters for him, our 
advice is not to come to us, but if he needs emergency help and 
can not get it elsewhere, we will gladly help in all worthy cases. 
We will promptly turn down unworthy applications. We will be 
careful not to have anything ‘ put over us.’ We depend entirely 
on voluntary contributions. We hope to repay a great part, 
possibly all that is put in our hands. We are determined that 
no worthy Wake County soldier shall suffer deprivation of prop- 
erty, nor his dependents suffer hardship, if we can prevent. 

“The committee has money for all present needs, but calls 
may increase, and we wish to have enough always in the hands 
of our treasurer, Mr. B. S. Jerman, to meet promptly any call 
made on us. We must not wait to raise money. We must have 
the money ready for instant use. I now ask the people of Wake 
County to place at least a thousand dollars in our treasury for 
use in this work. We.may hereafter need more; if so, we wili 
ask for it with full assurances that it will be supplied. What- 
ever be left or repaid—and we expect most of it to be returned— 
will be paid as a dividend to all contributors pro rata. Pay 
to Mr. B. S. Jerman, treasurer, to-morrow what you wish ty» 
advance for Wake County soldiers. 

“Out of the horrors of this war will arise a greater and better 
people, a stronger and freer citizenship, and higher ideals of 
government and of life. Out of bloody welter of this war will 
come many compensations.‘ We will find a higher efficiency, 
and we will have a warmer sympathy for our fellow creatures 
and a greater willingness to share burdens. We will under- 
stand as we never have before understood the fatherhood of 
God and the brotherhood of man. 

“There will be a fuller understanding and a deeper sympathy 
between the races here at home. _Misfortune has prevented 
that heretofore. Black men fought bravely in the Civil War, 
but against us. Politics estranged us. Now we will fight 
together. A white regiment will save a black regiment when 
sorely pressed, and in like circumstance a black regiment will 
risk its life for a white one. We will be comrades in arms. 
After the war better friends than ever. 

“We are fighting, not for love of war, but because we love 
peace well enough to fight for it. Weare making war upon the 
idea and incarnation of war. We are fighting to make this 
the last war. If it ends right, it will be the last great war—the 
last war between civilized, enlightened nations. If we can have 
such a peace, the war will have been worth all its costs. Our 
soldiers have proven their patriotism. They have answered their 
country’s call. They have pledged their lives. We ask no proof 
of their devotion. But I want to know if we who remain at 

10857—17857 


14 


home be worthy of the men who go? I propose to this audience 
that we here and now take upon ourselves five simple but 
solemn pledges. I have personally taken each and all, and God 
dDeing my helper I will keep all. 

“Here they are: 

“1. We pledge ourselves not to say or do anything during this 
war which will weaken the hands of our Government, or which 
‘could give aid, comfort, or encouragement to the enemy. ~ Will 
you pledge this? If so, raise your hands and say, ‘ Yes.’ If 
you will not, answer, ‘No’ and bow your heads. 

“2. We pledge ourselves during this war to do promptly and 
cheerfully all which our Government shall ask us to do, the Same 
being in our power. 

“3. We pledge ourselves not to support any candidate for 
office who does not whole-heartedly support our country’s cause 
in this war. 

‘““4. We pledge ourselves not to let the family of a soldier 
‘suffer for want of anything we can supply. 

“5. We pledge ourselves to give preference in all things, 
where practicable, to the soldier who went and did his duty 
over the man of military age and fitness who did not go. 

“My soldier friends, you have heard these pledges. They 
‘speak for Raleigh, for Wake, for North Carolina, for America, 
for most of the civilized world. They are the voices of not only 
thousands here to-night but of a thousand million human beings 
in every quarter of the globe. You have the gratitude, prayers, 
and love of the human race. May the God of our fathers go with 
you, remain with you, sustain you, guard, preserve, and save 
you; and in His own good time bring you back safe. Amen.” 

10857—17857 
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